Display cabinet



H. F. BEERs DISPLAY CABINET .Aug. 11, 1931.

Filed Dec. 18. 1929 sor 22 g L INVENTOR.

l ry F 56876 ATTORN ZY UNITED STATES Patented Aug. 11, 1931 HARRY F.IBEERS, OF PELHAI/I, NEW YORK DISPLAY CABINET Application filed December18, 1929. Serial No. 414,904.

This invention relates to display cabinets and particularly to theprovision of what might be termed a false back wall for cabinets of theclass specified with means whereby said wall may be moved relatively tothe front W of the cabinet in order to arrange the articles placed ondispla in close proximity to the front of the cabinet; and the object ofthe invention is to provide the back wall of cabl- 19 nets of the classspecified with means for coupling the same with the back wall proper ofthe cabinet in such manner as topermit the free movement of the firstnamedwall relatively to said main back wall-; a further object being toprovide means for supporting the lower end of said movable back wall inconnection with the bottom of the display section of the cabinet topermit the free and easy movement of said wall; a further object beingto provide said movable back wall with a plurality of transverselyspaced bracket supporting strips with means for readily attaching one ofa number of shelf supporting brackets therewith, said movable back wallhaving a fabric facing covering the entire area of the front face ofsaid wall; a further object being to provide a simple form of bracketstructure with means thereon adapted to pierce said facing andto enterapertures in said supporting strips, and further having means forretaining said brackets against displacement from said strips; andwiththese and other objectsin view, the invention consists in a cabinetstructure of the class and for the purpose specified which is simpleinconstruction, eflicient in use, and which is'constructed as hereinafterdescribed and claimed. a Y The invention is fully disclosed in thefollowing specification, of which the accompanying drawings form a part,in which the separate parts of my improvement are designated bysuitablereference characters in each of the views, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of one section of a cabinet made according to myinvention, with part of the construction broken away.

Fig. 2 is a vertical,sectional view of the cabinet showing the falseback wall in a partially extended position. v I

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, transverse sectional view substantially on theline 33 of Fig. 2; and v 1 Fig. 4is a sectional detail view illustratingthe manner of attaching one of a number of shelves in connection with myimproved false back wall.

For the purpose of illustrating one use of my invention, I havediagrammatically out lined inFigs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, a cabinet10 such as commonly employed in. museums and other public institutionsin which various s ecimens or other articles are placed on eXhi it ordisplay. Thesefcabinets are usually made up in a number of sections, onesection 11 being illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings, and a part ofanother and adjacent section 12 being indicated, each section havingatop display compartment 13 and lower storage compartment 14, the latterbeing controlled by doors 15. I The compartment '13 is controlled by adoor structure 16 having a glass panel 17 through which the articlesorspecimens placed on exhibit in the compartment 13 may be seen. At 18, Ihave shown the main and usual back wall of the cabinet.

In carrying my invention into effect, I provide a supplemental or falseback wall 19, Y which in theconstruction shown is fashioned from alargesheet of metal 20, fa'shion'edat transversely spaced intervals toform outwardly offset channel portions 21, the outer wall of whichhas'vertically spaced aperture 22, four of these offset channel portionsbeing employed in each section as indicated inFig. 1 of the drawings.'Mounted on the outer face of the sheet 10 are fibre board, wood, papermache orother facings 23 of a thickness equal to the offset channels 21so as to provide a smooth and flush outer face to the wall 19 as clearlyseen in Fig. 3 of the drawings. On said outer face is attached, by anadhesive or in any other desired manner, a fabric facing sheet 2 l-whichcovers the entire front face of the wall'19 and is preferably of amaterial which will give a neat and finished appearance and beconsistent with the articles placed on display.

' Upon the rear'face and at each side of the inc wall 19 are verticalreinforcing posts 25 around which the side edges of the sheet 20 arefolded as seen at 20a one of said posts only being shown in Fig. 3 ofthe drawings.

At the top and bottom of the wall 19 and extending transversely thereofare channel reinforcing strips 26, the inner flanges of which are cutout at two points inwardly of the side channels 21, one of which cutouts is seen at 27 in Fig. 3 of the drawings to receive two standards orguide frames 28 for a gate or toggle leverstructure 29. The standards orframes 28 consist of two channel rails 30 arranged with their channelsfacing each other, and these rails are spaced apart atthe upper andlower ends thereofby blocks 31 riveted or otherwise secured in positionby members 32 passed through both rails 30 and said block, each blockhaving a screw thread ed aperture 33 to receive a screw 34 which passesthrough the crosshead 26a of each reinforcing strip 26 and into theaperture 33 in securing the standards 28 in position. The position ofthese standards is indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1 of the drawingsand one standard is shown in sectional plan in Fig. 3 of the drawings,it being understood that both standards are of similar construction andthe coupling. at each end thereof is the same. Similar standards 35 arearranged upon and secured to the back wall 18 of the cabinet and thechannel rails 36 of the standards 35- as Well as the rails 30 formtracks or guides for the ends of links 37 and 38' of each toggle leverunit, 29a the upper unit and 29?) the lower unit, cooperating with eachpair of standards 28-35, it being understood that the-links37 and 38 arepivoted together and tea floating standard 39 as seen at 40.

The standard 39 also has channel rails 41 in which the free ends ofother shorter links 42 are free to move, the movable ends of the links37, 38 and 42 all having pins or rollers 43 operatable in said channels.One of these ends is seen in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

The links 42 cross and are pivoted to the links 37 and 38 as seen at 44,and the other ends thereof are pivoted to the standards 28 and 35 asseen at 45, thus forming the gate or toggle lever structure which willfacilitate the free forward and backward movement of the wall 19 andwillsupport and guide said wall in its movement, it being understoodhowever that one set of standards 28-35 and their toggle lever units maybe flexed a greater degree than the other in order to dispose the Wallmember in an angular position with respect to the front wall of thecabinet; but, in most cases, the wall 19 will be arranged in parallelismwith the front wall or the back wall 18.

To facilitate the free sliding movement of the wall 19, the lower edgethereof is provided with a plurality of anti-frictional devices 46 whichmay be domes of silence or if desired ball casters. It will also beunderstood that a slight clearance will be provided at the top and sidesof the wall 19 to permit the free movement of said wall with respect tothe side walls and top wall of the display chamber 13 of the cabinet.

I also employ a plurality of shelf supporting brackets 47 each of whichconsists of a sheet of metal the top edge of which is folded to form asupporting flange 48, the front end of the bracket'being comparativelynarrow as seen at 49 and the rear end thereof being wider and cut out toform two inwardly projecting lugs 50 and two laterally extending lugs 51and 52. The upper lug 50 has an upwardly directed lip 50a, note Fig. 4,which cooperates with the inner face of the front wall of the channels21 to retain the brackets 47 against displacement, and the lateral lugs51 and 52 rest upon-the outer facing'sheet 24 of the wall '19.. Inmounting the brackets 47 in position, it will be imderstood that thefacing sheet 24 is ruptured or cut at points in alinement withpredetermined apertures 22 in the channels 21 so as to properly positionthe brackets in connection with said wall in order to produce a desiredarrangement of shelves 53 within the chamber 13, two or more bracketssiLpporting'each shelf, and as seen in-Fig.v 1, five shelves 53 areshown supported in the section 11.

It will be'understoodi that while I have shown certain details ofconstructionfor carrying my invention intoeifect, and have illustratedmy inventionas applied to a cab inet of soecific design, that myinvention is not limited. in these respects and various other changes inand modifications of the construction herein shown and described,

may be made within the scope of the appended claims without departingfrom the spirit of my invention or sacrificing its advantages.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim asnew and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a cabinet of the class described, the combination with the backwall thereof of a supplemental backwall member and means coupling saidwall members together in such manner as to permit the movement of saidsupplemental wall member toward and from the back wall of the cabinet,said means comprising channel rails arranged vertically on the opposedfaces of said'wallmembers and links pivotally coupled to said rails andhaving ends movable relatively thereto for supporting and guidingthesupplemental wall member in its movement.

2. In a cabinet of the class described, the combination with thebackwall thereof, of' a supplemental back wall member and means couplingsaid wall members together in such manner as to permit the movement ofsaid supplemental wall membertoward and from i the opposed faces theback wall of the cabinet, said means comprising channel rails arrangedvertically on of said wall members and links pivotally coupled to saidrails and having ends movable relatively thereto for supporting andguiding the supplemental wall member in its movement, means on the loweredge of the supplemental wall member for supporting and guiding saidwall member in its movement relatively to an adjacent wall member ofsaid cabinet, said supplemental wall member having a plurality ofvertically arranged channels, the bottom part of the channels beingarranged at the outer face of said wall member and said parts havingvertically spaced apertures whereby one of a number of shelf supportingbrackets may be detachably coupled with said. supplemental wall member,bodies of relatively soft material on the outer face of said wall memberand intermediate said channels, and a facing sheet arranged upon saidchannels and bodies and normally sealing the apertures in said channels.

8. In a display cabinet of the class described, a back wall member,means including independent units attached at spaced points to the rearface of said wall member for supporting and mounting said wall member insuch manner as to permit the movement thereof forwardly and backwardlywith 1 respect to the front of the cabinet, means arranged at spacedintervals on said wall member whereby shelf supporting brackets may bedetachably mounted in connection with the front face of said wallmember, and a facing sheet arranged on the front face of said wallmember and normally concealing said last named means.

4. In a display cabinet of the class de y scribed, a back wall member,means including independent units attached at spaced points to the rearface of said wall member for supporting and mounting said wall mem herin such manner as to permit the movement thereof forwardly andbackwardly with respect to the front of the cabinet, said meanscomprising a plurality of pivotally coupled links arranged in units, andguide rails on the rear face of said wall member and on a supportarranged rearwardly of said wall member in which the ends of the linksin each unit operate.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname this 17th day of December, 1929.

HARRY F. BEERS.

